NHL Best Bets Today: Expert Picks for Thursday, November 21

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Published on November 21, 2024

NHL Best Bets Tonight: Expert NHL Picks for
Thursday, Nov. 21

The National Hockey League has 10 total games on the slate for Thursday evening, including six games in the early window at 7 p.m. ET. We also have one puck drop each at 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., as well as two games with a 9 p.m. ET start time.

We're going to focus on a few games in the early window for parlay opportunities. At 7 p.m. ET, the Vegas Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators square off, while the Colorado Avalanche and Washington Capitals tangle in the nation's capital, and the Carolina Panthers and New Jersey Devils do battle at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Let's get started.

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Best NHL Picks Tonight

Vegas Golden Knights at Ottawa Senators

The Golden Knights (11-6-2) make the second stop in a five-game road trip against the Senators (8-9-1) in Canada's capital city.

VGK kicked off the road trip by laying an egg in Toronto in a 3-0 loss, as the offense gave Adin Hill absolutely zero support. Ilya Samsonov is expected to be in the blue ice for Vegas with the team playing on no rest. The last time Vegas played on no rest it pounded San Jose at home, 7-3, on Oct. 26. That's the only back-to-back situation for VGK so far. Last season, the Golden Knights were a respectable 5-4-2 in 11 games with no rest, although they did have a minus-7 goal differential in those games.

For the Senators, they have posted a 0-2-1 mark in the past three games. It looks like it is Anton Forsberg's turn after Linus Ullmark was the losing goalie against Edmonton on Tuesday. Ullmark allowed five goals on 27 shots in the 6-4 loss at Vegas in the first meeting on Oct. 25.

In that late October game, Adam Gaudette had two goals for the Sens, including a power-play marker, and Ivan Barbashev had a pair of goals for the Knights.

Let's go with the Over in this matchup at Canadian Tire Centre.

Over 6.5 (-105 at DraftKings Sportsbook)

Colorado Avalanche at Washington Capitals

The Avalanche (10-9-0) saunter into D.C. to battle the Capitals (13-4-1). And, for Washington, it's bad news as it is without Alex Ovechkin due to a leg injury that will keep him out for perhaps several weeks.

Washington has won three in a row, all as an underdog, but without Ovi it's going to be an uphill climb. The Over is on a 4-0-1 run in the past five outings, too.

For Colorado, it makes the second stop of a four-game trip. It opened with a 3-2 victory behind Justus Annunen in Philadelphia on Monday night as the Under (6.5) cashed. The total has gone low at a 2-0-2 clip in the past four outings.

Colorado is also 4-1 in the past five games, and that lone loss was a 5-2 setback at Ball Arena against the Caps. Again, Ovi played in that game, so we'll see if the Caps suffer an emotional hit with their big gun sidelined. That's the way I'd lean, normally, if not for a shaky goaltender situation for the Avs. Let's side with the Caps at home while going low with the total.

Capitals ML (+120 at DraftKings Sportsbook)
Under 6.5 (-110 at Caesars Sportsbook)

Carolina Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils

The Hurricanes (14-4-0) meet the Devils (12-7-2) in Newark, and Carolina will be playing on no rest. The last time it played in the second end of a back-to-back, it swept a pair of weekend games against the Ottawa Senators and St. Louis Blues on Nov. 16-17 by a combined 8-1 score.

These teams played Oct. 15 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, with the Canes doubling up the Devils 4-2 as moderate favorites (-159) as the total pushed (6) at most shops. Pyotr Kochetkov started that game against the Devils, but since he went in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Spencer Martin is expected to be in the crease for the Canes. That is what is driving our pick.

The Devils are looking to rebound after a 4-0 loss in Tampa Bay, and they should get the job done against the third-string tendy on the Carolina depth chart. New Jersey is 7-3-0 in the past 10 games, and all three of those losses are shutouts.